


An Array of Masks

by cassowarykisses



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Pre-Canon, References to Torture, Speculation, Vos is Agent 113, arts and crafts, but nothing explicit, references to murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2014-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 14:30:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1986468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassowarykisses/pseuds/cassowarykisses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Almost four million years ago, Vos was called Scope. He was also an Autobot preparing for a unique spy mission - infiltrate the DJD. He was also more concerned with annoying Rewind than making progress on developing his cover.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Array of Masks

**Author's Note:**

> Since this takes place pre-DJD, Vos is called Scope. This fic also uses sziondaisy's "rifles were disposables" headcanon - go check out her fic A Spark's Worth, which was a big influence on this fic.

Scope slid open the door to Rewind’s habsuite as quietly as possible and put down the box he was carrying gently. He crossed the room in a couple of strides and leaned over Rewind. After watching him for a moment, Scope knocked the clump of malleable foam out of his hands. Rewind yelped in surprise and jerked back in his chair, whacking the back of his helm against Scope’s chest.

"What are you doing?" Scope asked, speaking slow and clear in the Primal Vernacular. He bent over to look Rewind in the face upside-down, visor-to-visor. Making sure Rewind understood would get him extra annoyed, which was the fun part. He’d get annoyed anyway, but the comprehension made him sputter and argue. It was so boring when he just stalked off! Even if he did look all cute and huffy when he did it.

Rewind ducked around Scope’s head to grab the foam, then twisted around to glare at him, forcing Scope to straighten up. “Nothing now.”

Scope jabbed a finger at the foam, and Rewind pulled it away from him. It was pretty funny, actually, since his arms were long enough that he could hit it out of Rewind’s hands a second time, unless Rewind got up and ran away or something. “What werrrre you doing?” he said, forcing it out in Neocybex. His specialized vocalizer mimicked the words without really shaping them like it could Primal. Wouldn’t it be fun if Rewind would actually talk to him in Primal instead of chattering away at him in Neocybex like he could absorb the sound waves into his core coding.

Rewind turned away and went back to working with the foam. He was pounding it out, Scope could tell. Knowing what it was was a different story - he could tell it was oblong, and that he hadn’t actually damaged it, but that didn’t tell him much.

"Rrrewind," he said, again in Neocybex. Rewind ignored him. He gave up fighting his vocalizer and continued in the Primal Vernacular, "Tell me what you’re doing." He made sure to drag out the words in the particular whiny way that grated Rewind’s nerves no matter what language it was in.

Apparently he dragged it out too much. Rewind glanced back at him and shrugged emphatically. Scope groaned and sat down on the floor with a clatter of limbs. He waited to see if Rewind paid attention, then lay down on his side, making sure to cause as much noise as possible. It didn’t seem to be working.

Unsubspacing a datapad, Scope sat up. He glared at Rewind’s back and began jabbing at the keys. Report One: Accuracy when firing solo has improved 12% relative to my last check-in. If I double my practice sessions, I should be able to repeat this result in blah blah blah. Carefully leaving out that doubling firing practice would cut into his Neocybex lessons, of course.

Minute control in altmode has improved - can aim at a slightly different target than handler. Expert gunmen recommended to test this further. Communication didn’t really matter. Actions spoke louder than words, and killing people was actually pretty fun. Not that he’d tell the mission psychiatrist that. It had probably gotten up to high command already anyway. Scope reached up and rubbed at the sides of his mask.

Wonder what it’ll be like to have a new face. He’d already been measured for a new one. It was a good division. A new face, a new person. He’d give his current one to Rewind and then when he came back, he’d put it back on. Just like changing names.

Scope glanced up from his datapad at Rewind. He was looking back at him, but turned away quickly before Scope could interrupt his work again.

Tossing his datapad over to the berth with a clank, Scope stood up.

"Don’t you dare come over here and interrupt me," Rewind said, still focused on whatever he was shaping the foam into. Scope forced air through his vents to create a rattling noise. Rewind didn’t turn around.

He stood on tiptoe to try and see over Rewind’s shoulders, but he was keeping whatever he was working on too close to his chest. Spoilsport.

Rewind sighed. “I’m almost done, you know.” he said, without looking back at Scope.

"Good." Scope said in Primal. "I’m so bored."

"You’re so ungrateful, more like," Rewind said, shifting to point and glare at Scope.

Scope waved a hand. “Get on with it.” Rewind shook his head and turned back around without saying anything. Scope could see him picking up containers of that cheap spraypaint nobody was supposed to use on their bodies. He’d probably swiped it from some supply closet.

Art was annoying, Scope decided. Rewind was far more fun when he paid attention to him. That was the one thing he looked forward to about his mission - nobody would be able to ignore him. It made him shiver with anticipation. Fame for him, and really for everyone he was going to kill too, and who didn’t want fame? He wouldn’t say that, though. Rewind would look at him like he looked at the interrogators coming up from the lower levels, like the energon was still congealing on their hands.

It was probably good Rewind steered clear of some of them. But Scope knew who to kill and who to protect. He didn’t want to kill Autobots. But he was cooped up here, and right now he wanted to take what he could get. In a couple of years, once he was out in the thick of things, maybe he’d think differently. Maybe not.

The whole thing would probably be easier if Rewind had high enough clearance to know where in the Decepticons he was going. Get some good DJD footage, learn some tricks for getting Tarn’s interest besides “traitor” or “obvious spy”. But Rewind would be a “liability” who might “frighten him out of a job,” to quote his supervisor. Information was precious, and Intelligence worked as much on suppressing it as gathering it.

"Are you ready?" Rewind called.

Scope sat up. “You’re done?” he asked. “Before the boredom put me to sleep?”

"That one was pretty weak," Rewind said. "But anyway, this is for you." He held out an oval-shaped object, painted blue and yellow.

Scope frowned at it for a second. “Is that a mask?” he asked. “I thought you were making that Dominus guy or something.” This would be fun, he thought. Even though he was making sure to enunciate, he’d have to dumb down what he said to fit Rewind’s language files.

"Yes, of course it’s a mask!" Rewind snapped. "I even cut optic holes!" He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I painted it too."

"It doesn’t look like me," Scope said. "Are you trying to tell me to get a new paintjob? Or that you’ve always dreamed about mechs with yellow faces?"

"It’s to dress up," Rewind said. "Remember - " the light on his helm flashed and a quick montage of images played - Proteus in a cape, his limbs covered with ornate temporary foil, some senator Scope didn’t recognize with shimmering holographic tattoos writhing over his plating, a troupe of actors wearing ornate masks themed on the Guiding Hand. "Like the parties the Senate used to throw."

Scope stuck his arm into the line of Rewind’s projection, watching the light distort and play over his plating. “Did you ever go to one of those?”

"No." Rewind said. "I improvised. I could only get two colors, though, since they’ve started actually locking the supply closet on this floor."

"So that means the bar will have to stop adding cleaning fluids to the engex to make it stronger?" Scope asked.

"They might even have to cave and buy real energon now!" Rewind said. "No more dangerous chemical burns when you spill your drink!"

"That was half the fun," Scope said, and sighed.

Scope snapped off his outer face and putting it on Rewind’s desk. He held up the mask in its place. “Who do I look most like?”

Rewind leaned a little to the side, tilting his head to get a better look at Scope’s lower face. He took a step back when the mask was put on, to better look up at his handwork. “I give it two thumbs up,” he said.

"That wasn’t what I asked," Scope pointed out.

Rewind made a non-committal gesture. “I’d say… probably Nightbeat. He’s the only bot with a yellow and blue face I know.” He frowned a little. “We probably shouldn’t show this to him, though.”

"You expect me to wear this in public?" Scope asked.

Rewind glared at him. “After that subtle remark, I should.” He considered a moment and laughed to himself. “But what, you want to wear it in private?”

"No!" Scope said, throwing his hands up. "I won’t be a part of your police fantasies!"

"No ,no, no," Rewind said. "Just let me film you -" Scope pulled back, but Rewind plowed on - "pretending to be Nightbeat." He held up his hands. "Hear me out. We’ll sell it to the Decepticons, and they’ll get overconfident. I can hear them now - ‘The great detective is actually a skinny dweeb!’"

"Hey!" Scope protested.

"Then," Rewind continued, "When they attack, they’ll be stupid and Optimus will shoot Megatron, and you won’t have to leave."

Scope turned the mask over in his hands. “You wear this,” he said finally. “You made it. If I help you break into the good supply closet, will you help me make one that looks like Mortilus?”

Rewind shifted uncertianly. “I don’t know -“

"Come on!" Scope said, flipping the mask to fit it over Rewind’s face. He ducked away, and Scope pusued him across the room, mask in hand. It was so much fun to outpace Rewind on his short little legs. Large mechs who took tiny steps so other bots could keep up obviously couldn’t see a great way to tease someone when it was right in front of them. "We can steal energon and throw a little Senate party. You have the footage to mock - "

"We can steal energon?" Rewind asked, standing still irritably while Scope waved the mask microns from his visor. He swatted at his arm "You know, I can tell you’re not actually trying to fit that on me!" Scope tossed the mask to Rewind and made a rude gesture, then turned around to reattach his real face. Rewind took the opportunity to move over to his berth and sit down. He continued, "You steal the energon, I handle coordinating the party."

Scope slumped in mock despair. “That’s not faaairrrr,” he said, switching to Neocybex to make Rewind twitch.

"Pffft." Rewind said. "Like you have any idea what a party is like." Scope held up a finger. "I mean a real party, not a contest to drink the most dangerous substance!" he snapped. "When I say energon, I don’t mean paint peeler."

Scope crossed the room and sat down next to Rewind. “It can be a going-away party,” he said. “When I leave, we can switch masks and wear each others from then on.”

Rewind bowed his head. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Yeah - we’ll do a mask swap when you go.”

"Great!" Scope said with as much cheer as he could muster. "I’ll even throw in my face for safekeeping."

Rewind punched him lightly in the shoulder. “What do you expect me to do with it?” he asked. “Hang it up on my wall? Tape it over my face?”

"The second one sounds pretty nice," Scope said. "Don’t you want to be as handsome as me?" Rewind tried to tackle him, and Scope scooped him up onto his lap. He looked down at Rewind and tried not to laugh at his half-glare. "I’m going to hang mine on the wall," he said, trying to goad another response like that out of him. "I’ll tell everyone that I peeled it off of an Autobot with my bayonet, and that’s why it’s all deformed."

"Scope, that’s disgusting!" Rewind cried, and and hit him again, this time in the chest. He paused, and waved a finger in Scope’s face. "And another insult to my art!"

"I say what I see," Scope said, catching Rewind’s hands in his own to stop any more poking. "If someone asks you about my face, you tell them you cut it off of the last person to insult disposables in front of me."

Rewind lay down, pulling Scope down sideways with him. They lay in silence for a moment. “That idea does have a certain appeal to it,” Rewind admitted at last.

Scope released his hands and rolled over. “See, you are vicious enough to be a spy."

He was rewarded by Rewind shifting and resting his legs on top of him, “If you think I’m joining you in who-knows-where, you’re wrong.” he said. “Somebody has to lobby Intelligence to actually bring you back.”

"I have full faith in you," Scope said, twisting his lower body to put his legs on top of Rewind, too. It wasn’t very comfortable, but being vexing was worth it.

"Even after seeing my art?" Rewind asked dryly.

"Hey, we can only be experts in so many things," Scope said. "Your make people give you data by talking. I make people give me data by pretending to be someone else. Someone else can paint."

Rewind was briefly quiet. “Thank you,” he said, patting Scope on the chest. After a moment’s hesitation, he wriggled out from under Scope’s feet and pressed their faceplates together.

Scope pushed himself up into a sitting position and unclasped his mask. He leaned over the edge of the berth and carefully placed it on the floor. When he turned back to Rewind, he was watching him closely, recording every detail of the face beneath his mask. Slowly, Rewind reached up and ran his hand over the smooth, rounded planes of his face. Scope touched Rewind’s face in return, exploring his visor and running his hand down to tap his fuel intake cover, wondering which ones he’d see on himself in the years to come.


End file.
